UnNormality
by T. Rodriguez
Summary: Its a new year for Emma Nelson, and she wants to start the year off right. With an unpredictible friendship, a new relationship, and the return of her first love, will things all fall down or go her way?


It was the first day of school at Degrassi CS. Emma Nelson was ready for it, sure, but she'd still been dreading the return of school for weeks. Not that she hated school or anything, she just enjoyed being able to relax at home with no stress, no work, and not having to worry about the constant whispers in the halls about her, hoping Chris and his friends wouldn't torment her in the halls, shouting, "Gonorrhea Girl!" and "Off to the Ravine, Nelson?" .

But as she stood outside Degrassi, starting grade 11 didn't seem so bad, in fact it was almost a good thing. It was a new year, and she felt like she had a fresh start, and chance to start the year off right. She probably didn't even have to worry about the rumors and Chris. She figured they'd be over it by now.

The day went by easily enough; her first three classes weren't terribly hard, and just as she thought, the rumors were gone. In fact, Chris said a friendly hello to her in the halls. To Emma, this day looked like it was going to be a breeze, a good day, even. She was elated.

Until lunch.

She was standing at her locker idly, touching up her makeup and doing her hair as usual, trying to hurry to meet Manny. But hey, she could wait an extra minute. Everything was normal until she heard the loud crack of a gun. She screamed, the memories of last year flying back to her. Images of Rick, the gun, Sean leaving, Chris, Jay, every terrible thing from grade 10 flashed though her mind.

Instinctively, she walked towards the sound of the gun, as if in a trance. What she found shocked her, never in her wildest dreams could she expect to find this. She stared.

Rick stared back, clenching a gun on his side, a hateful glare plastered on his face.

_ This is impossible. _Emma thought, closing her eyes. _Rick is dead. Rick is dead. RICK IS DEAD._ She opened her eyes, expecting him to be gone, for it to just be another horrific daydream. That none of it was happening, but it was. It was all real. He just stared at her with the same dreadful glare as the year before.

She turned to run and suddenly, Sean and Toby were by her side, just like last year. A ray of courage sparked through her. _It's going to be okay._ She told herself, no longer scared, _Sean will help me, just like before._

"Sean," She said, waiting for him to fight Rick for the gun, like the year before, to save her,but instead he just stared through her. He looked at her as if she wasn't even there, like she was a ghost. "Sean." She repeated. Nothing. "Sean!" She yelled, the fear rising in her once again. "Please…" She asked frantically.

Finally there was some recognition in him. He could see her, she knew, it was going to be okay.. She sighed in relief, her heart pounding.

"C'mon Toby, lets get out of here." Sean said, and Emma broke down. Sean turned away, leaving Emma to fall on her knees in tears, not able to believe he would do such a thing to her.

Toby looked back at her for a second, almost sadly saying, "Bye Emma," before turning along with Sean.

And they left. Emma was alone, a gun pointing at her back.

Emma turned around, the hot tears burning down her face. She was looking straight down the barrel of Rick's gun. "You deserve this." Rick told her, the paint from last year still stained on his clothes.

And she believed him. She should have gotten this a year ago. She closed her eyes and looked at the ground.

And he pulled the trigger.

* * *

Emma woke up, sweating and scared, she was crying.It was so real, the dream, she could feel her heart beating irregularly. Sitting up, she wiped the sweat off her face. Sighing, she looked at her clock. It read 4:56 AM is big, bright red numbers. She sighed, laying her head back on the pillow, her eyes wide open. There was no way she was going to be able to sleep now as exhausted as she was. This was the 4th time in the last week that she had the horrible nightmare.

She'd been having terrible nightmares ever since that fateful day the year before, and every time they came, she could never get back to sleep, and when she did, they would just start over. She figured that they'd pass, that she would get over it. But she didn't. She was too scared to tell anyone, especially Snake. She didn't want to have to go see a shrink, even though it was probably the best thing for her. She just didn't want to deal with it.

She was sick of it. She couldn't stop it and she felt powerless. Every night she was almost afraid to go to sleep, knowing that she may have a bad dream. They were the exact same dream too, but when it started she just couldn't separate it from real life. She never even realized she had the dream so many times. The worst part of the dreams were the _feelings._ It was so real. She could feel the emotions, she was _acually _scared and happy and sad. It was just too real.

So, she just lay there, staring at her ceiling like she had so many nights before. It was almost routine to her. But staying up tonight was bad, school started the next day for real, and Emma wasn't sure if she could deal with it. She wished it would start like the dream, happy and wonderful. But she had the feeling it would end horribly.

She sighed and closed her eyes, praying for a dreamless sleep.

* * *

AN: Well, this is my first Degrassi fic, and I know its short, but its just an opener, the next chap will be longer, I just needed to get some things on the table for this one. And I will warn that this fic may have Sean/Emma but I'm not sure. But for sure, There will be an Emma/Ellie friendship in the next few chapters.

The Next chap will be about Emma's first day of school.

So Please Review! I'm a first timer and I need tips!


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